Steam for Linux Enters Open Beta, Download Now

A comprehensive tutorial about how to use Steam on Linux is available on Softpedia

Steam for Linux interface

Steam for Linux is entering the final stages before the official launch and Valve has just opened the Beta program for everyone.

Valve has finally managed to release Steam for Linux Beta to the public and not a moment too soon. We have it on good authority the Steam Winter Sale will also begin today. Linux users will thus get a chance to buy some of the specific games at major discounts.

Moreover, Valve is now using GitHub to track the reported bugs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the GitHub, the developers are providing a readme file in the repository which contains all the necessary information for users to properly report bugs.

The forum is still a good way to report some general problems, but Valve strongly recommends that any new issues be entered using GitHub's issue tracking interface

Valve also provides a new Steam installer package repository or to be more precise, a nice and clean PPA.

The Steam client for Linux has also received a nice boost with the announcement, and some interesting fixes and new features.

Highlights of Steam for Linux Beta:

• Excessive CPU usage by the Steam client when running Team Fortress 2 has been fixed;

• An overlay crash which occurred when starting Cubemen has been fixed;

• “Back” navigation behavior has been improved throughout user interface of Big Picture;

• Discount timers have been added, along with the user interface to the store.

• Joystick hotplug support has been added;

• The No Driver Updates dialog has been repaired and it no longer appears during start up;

• Multi-monitor support has been added;

• Audio popping in Big Picture and voice chat has been fixed;

• The HTTP movie streaming and loading UI for Big Picture has been improved;

• The navigation between DLC and guides in the store, to their respective game pages in the library, has been improved;

• The number of items shown under Coming Soon, Top Sellers, and Specials in the store section, has been increased;

• A bug where movie playback failed when quickly navigating through trailers under the Trailer TV section has been fixed.